12 years ago, Friendster debuted.
Since then, the number of social networks has exploded.
And in the past few years, so too have the opportunities for social advertising: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+.

It can be a little overwhelming.

Americans spend 37 minutes each day on social media, so social ads are a great opportunity to help you connect with your audience. But should you be using them? And which platforms should you put money into? How do you keep from getting bogged down in all your options? And how do you get the results you want?

So what is social advertising:

It’s advertising. It’s on a social networking site.
You’re paying to reach people who don’t already follow/like/whatever you.

For a lot of companies, social ads are part of the overall digital advertising strategy which might include Google AdWords and a few well-placed banner ads. (Yup, banner ads are coming back. Maybe.) But if you’re not advertising on social yet, there are a few key reasons to consider it:

Many social ads don’t look like ads.As a society, we’re flooded with advertising, so we’ve trained ourselves to tune the noise out. Automatically, we don’t pay attention to most solicitations. But social platforms have found a way to get through your filter and make you take a second look.
Many ads are either carefully crafted to look like content or are actual content from your pages. Take the Levis Instagram ad below. If it didn’t have the “sponsored” icon, it would look like just another Instagram post in your feed.

You have many different ways to target your audience.
Geotargeting, or serving your ads to users based on their geographic location, revolutionized advertising and made digital far more efficient than print for many marketers. In the last five years we’ve seen it used in video, display, and search ads.
However, social took targeting even further so you can really hone in on your target audience. Social networks have access to information beyond location so, depending on the platform, you can target by gender, age, interests, behavior, and more. On Twitter, you can even target anyone who follows your competitors.

But, as we said, there are a lot of different social networks to advertise on. Should you be on any? Should you be on them all? Or maybe just a select few?

First you have to consider:

What is the goal of your ad?Do you want more people on your organization’s page? Then you should put money into ads where you have a strong presence and strong content. (What’s the point of having followers if they have nothing to follow?) Are you trying to get people to go to your website? Ad types with strong calls-to-action are best for this.

What resources do you have?First, images. The old adage is true; a picture is worth a thousand words. And all the big sites, even Twitter, have become more image-centric as of late. But images that work on Pinterest don’t always work on Facebook. Do you want to use a large photo? An infographic? An animated GIF?
Second, your (rough) budget. Can you throw $40 at this? Or $4,000? Or $400,000?

Where is your audience?Trying to sell to women who make a lot of money? You should be on Pinterest. Urban millenials? Instagram.

Once you have answered those questions, take a look at what’s out there and see what matches up.(more…)

The Endocrine Society has a good website overall, but they made this list because of how user-friendly the site is. We like that you can browse content by “who you are.” This option is right at the top, right in the middle: you can’t miss it.

It’s organized, it’s attractive, it’s easy to navigate. Overall – a job well done. Notice how all the content on the homepage is spaced perfectly and fits into a grid; the standardized height and width for each block makes this website design clean and effective.

Great calls-to-action! “Become a Member” stands out clearly without being over-the-top. AAAS uses red to draw your eye to the most important things on the page. But why does this really work? Because it’s the same red they use in their logo.

The NRA is another trade association that is making a large investment in the production of original content, particularly video. Their website features video series targeted at diverse audiences, like women and urban youth, that will keep visitors coming back.

OSA does a great job with subtlety – the header provides just the right amount of depth. Also, the scrolling updates could have come across as cheesy, but it actually works! It’s small enough and the animation is slow enough that doesn’t take over the page. Oh – and check out the image gallery, great content.

NSBA has done everything right. A smooth, larger-than-average slider makes the visual content the focus of the page. A clear headline tells you who they are right away. And using icons for their primary initiatives was a good, attention-getting touch.

This is one of the only websites on our list that doesn’t have a slider. The American Diabetes Association has an attractive, modern website that uses visuals and icons very well. Also, their original content is outstanding: relevant, entertaining, and tailored to their audience. We love the featured recipes!

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Brick by Brick is the official blog of the Brick Factory, a Washington, DC-based digital agency. The blog provides an inside peak behind the workings of the company and covers the latest digital strategies and trends. Please subscribe below.